Traditional festivities in Sardinia

Not only spectacular beaches and wonderful nature, there are also many traditional festivities in Sardinia, and we will tell you some interesting details about some of them.

We recommend you to visit one of these unique events during your holiday.

Il Carnevale (Carnival) is a festivity which is known all over the world and in Sardinia this tradition is very popular. The carnival of Tempio-Pausania is one of the most popular in Sardinia. Different villages in Sardinia take part in this parade and you can see many traditional costumes and all the cars are decorated with care and love.
An old tradition of the carnival is to "sacrifice" the king Giorgio at the end of the carnival to propitiate a fertile ground and a good crop. Also one of the most famous costumes is the costume of the “mamuthones”, from a town named Mamoiada, with his bells which are always part of the carnival at Tempio-Pausania.

La Sartigila from Oristano is an old knight tourney which takes always place the last Sunday and Thuesday of the carnival. It has been celebrated since 1546. The knights in wonderful colorful costumes on their horses try to catch stars with their lance in full gallop. According to tradition, the more stars they catch, the better will be the crop of the year. After the tourney other horsemen in costumes show the public some spectacular stunts on horses, also done in groups riding very close to each other.

Pasqua (easter) in Alghero is also a very well known and important festivity. The religious parades take place almost every day during easter week and on Easter Sunday there is the most important parade. The whole city takes part of this very old tradition and of course in the evenings you find many people celebrating outside. They decorate the old city in a particular way with red lamps and we recommend you to participate at least once in this old ritual.

The cavalcata sarda is a wonderful event in Sassari that takes place at the end of May. The parade counts around 75 / 80 folk-groups who display the typical traditional costume of their Sardinian village. They bring also traditional food, like bread or sweets and offer them to the public. The participants wear also traditional handmade jewelles which often are more than 100 years old. Furthermore, at the end of the parade there are over 20 groups of horse-riders, all in traditional costumes, over 100 horses take part in the parade. In the evening in the center of Sassari there is a stage where it is possible to enjoy traditional Sardinian folk music and dances. Don’t miss it!

Le cantine aperte is an old traditional celebration of the new wines. Every village celebrates this festivity in a unique way, from August till December you can find such events all over the island. Usually, you should buy a wine of glass and then you can start your tour exploring the village and its new wines. In every wine cellar you can try the wines with your glass. Normally, traditional food and local specialties are offered in the wine cellars. In the streets you can hear local melodies and also see traditional dances. Moreover, in some of the wine cellars local choruses will sing for the public during the visits.

Don’t miss these unique Sardinian events while you are staying in one of our villas! Great ideas for a villa are:

- Villa White Elegance, with private pool in Capo Coda Cavallo;

- Villa Belle, with private pool in Portobello di Gallura.

- Il Rifugio del Bandito, holiday house in Stintino.